Strategic communication

UNICEF in action

A child with high hopes for a bright future needs accurate information to protection him/herself and make informed decisions to grow and develop to full potential.

The Strategic Communication programme contributes to raising knowledge, awareness and engagement among policy makers, the media and the general public, about existing and emerging issues affecting women and children in South Sudan. It is a cross-cutting function with two broad areas: Communication for Development (C4D) and media relations.

The Strategic Communication programme is using the following two strategies to support programme activities:

Advocacy and media relations – through the implementation of a strategy that employs traditional, new media and champions for children, the key issues of children are advocated with policy makers through forums, workshops and commemorative days such as the Day of the African Child. The capacity of local media, still in its infancy, will be supported in efforts to prioritize the issues of children in an ethical manner. International media relations are being strengthened through the use of electronic media, field missions and interviews. Child and youth participation is contributing to advocacy priorities to ensure their voices are heard in issues concerning them.

Communication for Development (C4D) – is a systematic, planned and evidencebased strategic process to promote positive behavioural and social change. Capacity-building in communication skills and establishment of social mobilisation networks, a priority for strengthening programme interventions, will be intensified. Emergency communication through the use of mass media and interpersonal communication will continue to reach the affected population in South Sudan.

Social mobilization during a polio vaccination campaign. Many methods including the use of loud speakers, dance and drama are used to reach communities to bring their children for vaccination.

Key achievements:

Using a mix of media approaches, more than a million people in all 10 states of South Sudan were reached with health messages and information materials during the polio vaccination campaigns, routine immunization and other health campaigns.

The programme contributed to the implementation of a ‘Safe Ways’ campaign for affected population in emergencies through the promotion of life-saving messages. This continues to reach one million people in South Sudan.

The independence of South Sudan opened up opportunities to emphasize the importance of children and youth issues with regional and global media networks, which helped to maximize global reach of at least 500,000 people.

More than 200 journalists and youths were trained on ethical reporting on children and basic journalism skills, which has opened up opportunities to establish ‘Media Networks for Children’ for promoting child rights through the media.

Challenges

Much of South Sudan is extremely remote, with multiple languages and dialects, and extremely low literacy rates. The capacity of media and frontline workers in journalism and behaviour change communication is limited, making it difficult to organise large-scale communication interventions. There are only a few communication partners and channels present in the field.